Michael Holley on Ron and Chauncey

[opi@unesco.org]

Tonight's game is very exciting. Both Mercer and Chauncey sound like
they want to clobber us, according to the Michael Holley article posted
below.

I hope Pitino knows what's at stake tonight (pride). With this much time
to prepare, he should be able to coach Dan Issel's ass off.

Peter May and Michael Holley are really going to enjoy themselves if the
Celts lose this game at home. In fact the entire Globe staff will
probably throw an early office X-mas party, especially if Antoine jacks
up 19 shots and 5 boards like he's been averaging lately.

Joe

p.s. All the articles I've read today make it sound like Mercer is
having a breakout all-around season, when in fact his
assists+rebounds+steals this season is just 6.80 this season compared to
7.50 coming into the season and 7.93 last year (which personally is why
I thought we traded him in the first place). Among other things,
Mercer's number this year is less than half of Antoine's rapidly
tumbling career average (13.90) despite Ron being 8th in the league in
minutes played. In addition, Mercer is actually averaging more turnovers
this year than Antoine (2.8 versus 2.7). Which guy would you give 71
million to? (answer: neither)

Being ranked third in the NBA in 3-point shooting is a nice development
and a stat that Mercer can probably maintain if he doesn't attempt too
many. According to Issel it sounds like Mercer's defense has also
improved quite a bit from last year, although I'm not convinced that
Issel is the best judge of defense. Denver is currently ranked 23rd in
opposing FG% allowed. Setting stats aside, they do seem like very nice
people (but, of course, so do the young guys we kept plus new faces
Griffin and Fortson).

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Choice Nuggets
Mercer and Billups hold court

By Michael Holley, Globe Staff, 12/08/99

It was a few minutes after noon when Ron Mercer and Chauncey Billups
walked toward the hotel lobby. The two friends eventually sat - facing
each other - in identical armchairs and talked themselves through the
lunch hour.

 You have seen conversations like this. One friend starts a story and
the other one finishes it. Or someone starts saying something
controversial and the other person laughs as if to say, ''I cannot
believe you said  that .''

 The 23-year-old men talked about Rick Pitino, their families and
friends, wealth, the best time to be traded, and false statements made
about them by the Celtics. Billups talked about how he wanted to send a
letter to Pitino's son, Richard, but ''I felt
kind of crazy writing a letter to the Pitino house.'' Mercer mentioned
how people around you change when you become a millionaire. ''Everybody
thinks you're a bankroll,'' he said. ''You get new friends. Instead of
asking you for $5 or $10 they ask you for a couple thousand.''

 But as much as their conversation seemed to dart forward and shuffle
from side to side, it truly hovered above a singular premise: Payback.

 Both were asked to leave Boston before they wanted to. They were
Pitino's first two No. 1 picks, the third and sixth picks in the 1997
draft. They wanted to finish their careers together as Celtics, but they
will be at the FleetCenter tonight as members of
the Denver Nuggets, trying to defeat the team - and specifically the
man, Pitino - that traded them away.

 Billups, picked third, was traded 51 games into his rookie year (he had
13 assists in his final game at the FleetCenter). The story was that he
didn't fit at point guard, a statement Pitino repeated in this year's
training camp.

 ''I don't buy that,'' Billups said. ''For somebody who drafted me third
to say that? I don't buy it. Because one thing about Coach Pitino is he
does his homework. No one works harder. He had to watch a lot of film on
me and see what I could do before
he drafted me, so he knew what I could do. I don't like people to
sugar-coat things. Just be real. He never had a conversation with me
saying I couldn't play the point, I just heard it through the media. So
I don't buy it.''

 Mercer, picked sixth, was traded in August. The story was that his
demands were too high for the Celtics. It is a portrait that still
bothers him.

 ''I just want the fans to know it wasn't about money,'' he said.
''That's my main thing. I could care less what anybody else has to say.
I think the Boston fans should understand that and know it's coming from
me and not anyone else in the organization. [The Celtics] have to cover
themselves when they do certain deals, you know, to justify them. But I
wanted to be in Boston. I wanted to stay. I was going to be traded
regardless of what I asked for and I knew that.''

 The best the 6-foot-3-inch Billups and 6-7 Mercer can do now is help
their new team win its third consecutive road game on this six-game
trip. If they win tonight, they can go two games above the break-even
mark and simultaneously push the Celtics a
game below it. That's all they have the power to do in their first games
as FleetCenter visitors. But all you have to do is listen to their
conversation to understand that they would revise history if they could.

  Billups : ''I definitely think we would have won in Boston with the
team we had. Pitino's teams are going to win anyway if guys believe in
the system. Give us some experience and we win.''

  Mercer : ''Oh, yeah. I think so. The last few years, it's been a
totally different team every year. It's hard for teams to win and blend
that way. With a nucleus of Antoine [Walker], Paul [Pierce], me and
[Billups] ... Man, that team would be special.''

  Billups : ''That's a nucleus, man. What's the oldest guy in that
group, 24?''

  Mercer : ''23.''

  Billups : ''And you're talking about guys who can defend.''

  Mercer : ''Everybody was young and hungry. It was fun learning the
system at that age. But then, you have new people coming in all the
time. That kind of breaks up the rhythm.''

  Billups : ''Think about it. We went to Boston at Picks 3 and 6. [Tony]
Battie and [Danny] Fortson went to Denver at 5 and 10. Now we're here
and they're there. Why didn't they just do that on draft day?''

  Mercer : ''They've got three players from the Denver team that won 11
games [11-71 in '97-98, two wins above the worst record in league
history].''

  Billups : ''Yeah, but that team smashed us right after the All-Star
break [in February 1998]. Remember that? They pounded us.''

 As the friends speak, it is obvious that they are far from the naive
rookies who were introduced to Celtics fans in June 1997. They were told
then that they were the team's backcourt of the future and they believed
it. They know better now.  Nuggets coach Dan Issel loves the way Mercer
- the team's leading scorer - plays. He said he was surprised by
Mercer's skills as a defender because ''a lot of big-time scorers can't
defend like he does.'' Those are complimentary words, but Mercer is
smart enough to know that they don't guarantee a long stay in the
Rockies. Like Billups, Mercer is in the final year of his contract.

  Mercer : ''My time in Boston taught me. It's a business. All I can
tell anybody [in Boston] is be ready for a trade. Nobody is safe.
Chances are if your name comes up in trade rumors and Coach Pitino says
that's not really a possibility, then it
might be a possibility.''

  Billups : ''Remember how we used to be on the Internet at 2 a.m.? We
used to get in from a road trip and head to the Internet. We'd hear
trade rumors and say, `Man. We're going to Sacramento. We're going to
Miami.'''

  Mercer : ''The thing about it was that at least we were going to be
together.''

  Billups : ''That was the good thing.''

  Mercer : ''It's crazy. My two years in Boston, my name was mentioned
in trade rumors all the time. I could never relax. It's good to know
you're going to be in a city for a couple years, not just a couple
months.

  Billups : ''You gotta rent. You can't be buying.''

  Mercer:  ''[Billups] had it worse than I did. I was traded in the
summer. I would rather be traded during the summer than during the
season.''

  Billups : ''If I could change it, I just wish the Celtics would have
been honest and said, `You know what? We want to go with a veteran point
guard who has been around the league. We want to win now.' You know,
honesty.''

  Mercer : ''I don't have any bitterness about being traded. It's just
the whole process of being traded and things being said that are not
true. But I guess things like that happen when you are gone. Everything
is fine when you're there, but when you
are gone that's when things are said about you.''

 The friends continue to chat as people walk through the lobby. Some of
them stop and eavesdrop. This doesn't bother the friends. They say they
can't wait to see Paul Pierce, whom they consider one of the top five
comedians in the NBA. ''One of the
funniest moments came last year when he was talking crazy to Eric
Williams,''

Mercer said. ''He got a technical for it. We were playing Denver and
Paul was getting on Eric pretty good. It was funny.'' They can't wait to
see Walker, Dana Barros, and Walter McCarty. They can't wait to see
Mercer's favorite gym, the FleetCenter.

  Mercer:  ''I don't know what it is. I just always feel comfortable
there.''

  Billups : ''Yeah, the building is nice. First place I called home. But
it is always freezing in there.''

  Mercer : ''Right.''

  Billups : ''The game? I was like [Mercer] when I first got traded. I
followed the Celtics all the time. You follow them for a while, but then
it wears off. I'll be excited, but it's different.''

  Mercer : ''I'm excited. I'm ready for it. I'm hungry to play.''

Billups : ''You want to show them, `Y'all gave up on me? Well, look at
this.' I haven't played against Boston yet but I have played against
Toronto. I try to kill them every time.''

Mercer: ''I still talk to Antoine. That's my man. Nothing is going to
change that. But come [tonight], it's all business.''

They begin to leave the lobby after their long talk. It is time for
lunch but Mercer, who had been battling a sinus infection, wasn't sure
whether he could have it. His mother checked in on him to offer some
motherly words about tonight's game.

''My mom called and told me that I may be sick now, but I better get
well for the Celtics game,'' he said. ''I don't have a choice.''

This story ran on page G01 of the Boston Globe on 12/08/99.